Home carers have warned of an ever-deepening crisis within Fife Council’s social work service. And staff have become so frustrated and disheartened by the situation they are faced with, there have even been rumblings of possible strike action.

One of the UK’s leading experts on child abuse has raised doubts about the conviction of a social worker after an investigation into a residential school in Ayrshire.

{mosimage}Ray Wyre, who works as a consultant to police investigations and public inquiries into child abuse, said staff at Kerelaw School found guilty of physical assaults were judged by standards which did not apply at the time the offences were said to have happened.

The trial of Matt George and John Muldoon, two former staff members at Kerelaw, took place in early 2006. There were 85 charges against them.

Mr Wyre was in court as an expert witness for the prosecution, but he was not called to give evidence.

He has now claimed this was because he made no secret of his doubts about some of the prosecution evidence.

When the prosecution finished, he closed his laptop and went to speak to Mr Muldoon. He said he told him he ought to be acquitted. The Crown Office said it was a matter for the fiscal to decide who was called to give evidence.

A drug said to be the world’s most addictive substance, which has torn apart communities in the United States, has been found by police in Scotland for the first time.

A former Scottish charity worker has admitted embezzling £12,500 from autism sufferers and their support group.

An agency in south west Scotland has been asked to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the extent of prescription drug misuse in the UK.

Plans for new health services in Ayrshire have been put on hold in order to retain an accident and emergency unit, BBC Scotland has learned.

Hundreds of people are continuing to drink and drive in the belief they will not be caught, police said yesterday as they revealed a sharp increase in offenders in the latest Scotland-wide crackdown.

A Nigerian man yesterday accused the organisation responsible for refugees in Scotland of race and age discrimination at an employment tribunal.

A youth attacked and raped a teenager three weeks after he was released early from a young offenders’ institution.

First Minister Alex Salmond last night met Muslim leaders in the wake of recent terror attacks, claiming Scotland was better placed than any other European nation to achieve social cohesion.